Shuttle picking mechanism for weaving machines



Nov. 19, 1957 E. PFARRWALLER 2,813,549

SHUTTLE PICKING MECHANISM FOR WEAVING MACHINES Filed Oct. 29, 1953 2SheetsShee 2 INVENTOR.

E E WIN PFAEIE'WALLEE,

ORNEY Unite States PatentO SHUTTLE PICKING MECHAN ISM FOR WEAVIN GMACHINES Erwin Pfarrwaller, Wintertliur, Switzerland, assignor to SulzerFreres, S. A., Winterthur, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Thepresent invention relates toa shuttle picking mechanism for weavingmachines in which the picking force is supplied by a power accumulatingmeans and in which a picking lever is held in picking position againstthe action of the accumulated power by means of a toggle joint The.present application is a continuation-in-part of my copendingapplicationSer. No. 388,957, filed'October 29; 1953, now U. S. Patent No.2,777,472.

It. is an object of thepresent invention to provide a shuttle pickingmechanism for looms including a shuttle picking element, poweraccumulating means connected with said element, toggle joint means forholding the picking element in picking position against the action ofthe power accumulated in the power accumulating means, and cam meansoperated by theloom drive for actuating the toggle joint means.

The aforementioned cam means and toggle joint means are preferablyindividually provided with a cam surface portion, one surface portionbeing for the purpose of moving the toggle joint from bent positionthrough extended position into the position for holding the pickingelement or lever in picking position against the action. of theaccumulated power, the other surface portion being.

for the purpose of returning the toggle. joint at least so far beyondits extended position that the toggle joint' is bent.

The novel features which are considered characteristicof theinventionare set forth withparticularity in the appended claims. Theinvention itself however and additional objects and advantages thereofwill best be under stood from the following description of an embodimentthereof when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in whichFig. l is a diagrammatic perspective part sectional view of a shuttlepicking mechanism accordingto the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the toggle joint and cam actuating it of themechanism according to Fig. 1, in released position.

The same numerals designate the same parts in all figures.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, numeral 1 designates acasing for the picking mechanism, which casing is connected to the frameof the loom, not shown. The casing 1 supports a hollow shaft 2 inbearings 3. A picking lever 4 is connected by means of a round wedge 4ato the shaft 2, the picking lever picking a shuttle 11 by means of a pin7 fast on a slide 8 and guided by a link 6 which is pivoted by a pin tothe picking lever. The slide 8 slides on a rail 9 which is mounted onthe casing 1. The head 18 of the pin 7 abuts against the rear end of theshuttle 11 which is in picking position in a shuttle lifter 12 when thepicking lever 4 is in the illustrated picking position. If the lay is inthe rear position shown, guide teeth 13 mounted with the reed 14 on thelay 15 form the shuttle path. Support and operation of the lay 15 areconventional and not illustrated.

The shuttle lifter12 is positively driven inth'ecdn ventional-manner torotate about an axis 16 from the" horizontal position shown, forexample, to a vertical position in which it receives anew shuttle.

A torsion rod spring 19 which is knurled atits right end'extendslongitudinally through the hollow shaft 2.

The left end of the rod is arranged inside of the shaft 2' and connectedtherewith by the pin 4a, the right end of* the rod engaging knurls in abore of a flange 21 which is fast on casing 1.

Anarm 22 is mounted on the shaft2 so that it cannot rotate relativelytothe shaft 2, arm 22 being connected by a pin 23 with a link 24, thelatter being connectedby a pin 27 with the upper armof a two-armlever 25whichswings on a stationary shaft 26. The lower arm of lever 25 isconnected by a pin 28 with alink pivoted: A cylinder 30for the latter isconnected with the casing 1 and supports the to a brakepiston 29 (Fig.2).

shaft 26.

A-roller 31 is supported inthe upper arm of the lever 25, the rollerfollowinga surface portion 36 of a cam 32 fast on a shaft 33. The latteris rotated by a conical gear wheel 34 in a conventionalmanner by themain drive shaft of the loom which drive shaft is driven Shaft 33'makes'a through a clutch by the loom motor. full revolution for each pick.

The two-arm" lever 25 is provided with a transverse arm having acamsurface 66, beginning at67 and grad' ually rising toward the outer endofthe arm 65. The pin 69 which surface 66 isfollowed by a roller'68' on ais inserted in the cam 32.

Thede'vice operates as follows:

arm 22,1the shaft 2, and the picking lever 4 have been revolved-therebyin counter-clockwise direction and the picking lever 4 is now in pickingposition. The 'left end of the torsion rod spring 19 has been turnedthroughthe sameangle as" shaft 2 whereby the spring has been tensioned.

Sinceth'e to'ggle joint 24, 25" is extended andin locking position; thetensioned spring 19 'cannot'rotate the shaft 2. The pin 27 is at theright of the line- 70, connecting the pin 23 and the shaft 26 and,because the link 35abuts against an abutment 71, the-force'accumulatedin the rod 19'cannot'press the: linkage 24,25 further to the right;

The abutment 71 is adjustablefor adjusting the picking position of thelever 4.

The picking lever'4 mustbe locked by the linkage" 24; 25 until a shuttle'11 istready to be picked, i. e. untilthe shuttle lifter 12 is moved tothe picking position shown in Fig; 1 and the'shuttle clamp 42 hasgripped a weft The shuttle 11 is prepared for the pick during the period:between two' weft thread in the conventional manner.

thread insertions so that the rshuttle is ready for the -pick shortlyafter the picking lever 4 has been moved into picking position.

To effect the pick, the toggle joint 24, 25 must be released which isdone by causing the roller 68 on cam 32 to press against the cam surface66 on the arm 65 of the lever 25. Release is effected at the moment atwhich the roller 68 has reached the position 67 on the cam surface 66,because, at farther movement of the cam 32 in the direction of the arrow40, the roller 68 presses the arm 65 downwards due to the rise of thecam surface 66 towards the shaft 33. The lever 25 is thereby turnedcounterclockwise and the joint 27 is moved from the position I PatentedNov. 19, 1957 shown in solid lines in Fig. 2 into the position II shownin dotted lines.

Upon reaching position 67 of the cam surface 66 by the roller 68, thenose 41 of cam 32 is so far removed from the roller 31 that the lattercan move into the space above the nose 41 upon continued rotation of thelever 25. The joint 27 has so far traversed the line 70 in position IIthat the released toggle joint 24, 25 begins to bend due to the actionof the force accumulated in the rod spring 19. The shaft 2 and thepicking lever 4 are now free to rotate in clockwise direction. Afterrelease of the picking device the power accumulated in the rod spring 19rotates the shaft 2 and the picking lever 4 for accelerating the shuttle11. A portion of the power is used for accelerating the masses of thelever 4, the shaft 2, and the members 24 and 25 of the toggle joint.

The elements 24 and 25 move from position II into the bent positionshown in dash-dot lines in Fig. 2. During the second part of themovement the energy remaining in the moving means is braked by means ofthe brake piston 29 which is linked to the lever 25 and moves to theright. Upon entry of the piston 29 in the cylinder 72, the brake fluidtherein is displaced and escapes through a port 73 and the seat 74 of athrottle valve 75 (Fig. 1). The position of the throttle valve isadjustable.

Since the release of the toggle joint 24, 25 is effected by the camdrive 31, 32, the power for initial acceleration of the masses to bemoved for releasing the toggle joint is furnished by the cam drive. Thepower accumulated in the rod spring 19 serves principally only foraccelerating the picking lever and the shuttle. This has the advantagethat the capacity of the rod spring 19 can be smaller than in devices inwhich the power accumulator must also supply power for moving otherelements than the picking lever and the shuttle. Since the brake piston29 is linked to a member of the linkage 24, 25, the mass of the pistonis also accelerated by the cam drive. The construction of the lever 25and of the link 24 also contributes to the reduction of the powerrequired from the power accumulator. If the upper arm of the lever 25,i. e. the distance of the bolt 27 from the fulcrum 26, is almost twiceas long as the link 24, small initial angular movements of the arm 22.correspond to great movements of the lever 25 so that the latter must bemore accelerated at the beginning which is done by the cam drive.

, While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variouschanges, modifications, substitutions, additions and omissions may bemade therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A shuttle picking mechanism for weaving machines comprising a shuttlepicking lever, power accumulating means connected with said pickinglever, toggle joint means connected with said picking lever for holdingsaid lever in picking position against the action of the poweraccumulated in said accumulating means, drive means including a camhaving a first surface portion, said toggle joint means including alever, a cam follower on said last mentioned lever and engaging saidfirst surface portion, said last mentioned lever including a second camsurface portion, a cam follower supported by said cam and engaging saidsecond surface portion, and a brake piston connected with said lastmentioned lever.

2. A shuttle picking mechanism for a weaving machine comprising ashuttle picking lever, power accumulating means connected with saidpicking lever, actuating means, a toggle joint mechanism connected withsaid picking lever for temporarily holding said picking lever in pickingposition against the action of the power accumulated in saidaccumulating means, and follower means forming part of said toggle jointmechanism and being adapted to be temporarily engaged by said actuatingmeans for actuation of said toggle joint mechanism for releasing saidpicking lever and surrendering the latter to the action of said poweraccumulating means, said actuating means including a cam having asurface portion, said follower means including a cam follower rolleradapted to be engaged by said surface portion, said actuating meansincluding a follower roller mounted on said cam, said follower meansincluding a surface portion adapted to be engaged by said followerroller which is mounted on said cam.

3. A shuttle picking mechanism for a weaving machine comprising ashuttle picking lever, power accumulating means connected with saidpicking lever, operating means connected with said picking lever formoving the latter againstthe action of said power accumulator forloading the latter, said operating means including actuating means and atoggle joint mechanism interposed between said actuating means and saidpicking lever for moving into and temporarily holding said picking leverin the picking position against the action of said power accumulatingmeans, said actuating means including a member temporarily engaging saidtoggle joint mechanism for collapsing the latter and surrendering saidpicking lever to the action of said power accumulating means.

4-. A shuttle picking mechanism as defined in claim 3 comprising acasing, said picking lever being outside of said casing, a shaft havingan end portion projecting from said casing and being connected with saidpicking lever for actuating the latter, an arm connected with said shaftinside of said casing and extending at an angle from said shaft, saidtoggle joint mechanism being placed inside of said casing and includinga lever swingable on a stationary pin and a link pivoted to said lastmentioned lever and pivotally connected with said arm.

5. A shuttle picking mechanism according to claim 4 in which said shaftis hollow and said power accumulating means includes a torsion rodplaced inside of said shaft and having one end fixed to a stationarypart of the weaving machine and the other end fixed to said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS332,400 Kesselring Dec. 15, 1885 1,175,772 Kelley Mar. 14, 19162,160,338 Moessinger May 30, 1939 2,160,339 Moessinger .2 May 30, 19392,564,383 Trautvetter Aug. 14, 1951 2,615,474 Ibanez Oct. 28, 19522,715,422 Pfarrwaller Aug. 16, 1955 2,777,472 Pfarrwaller Jan. 15, 1957FOREIGN PATENTS 678,468 Germany July 16, 1939

